The books are back!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of getting the artists sketchbooks back so that I can start preparing our Cover to Cover 2015 publication. This book of books will collect all the themes from the participating artists and the interpretation of those themes by some of the artists that took them on board.

I feel humbled and amazed at the amount of creativity and experimentation that has taken place and feel just slightly daunted by the task ahead of choosing the images for the publication.

Thank you to all the artists for taking the challenge of this sketchbook exchange that has kept you busy (on top of your normal workload) for the past five months. My most sincere congratulations for achieving something so special.

I recomend a visit to West Berkshire Museum this May during Open Studios to see the Cover to Cover 2015 exhibition of all the original books.

Roche Court - Sketching visit

The New Art Centre at Roche Court was a great venue for a sketching day.
We did a Group tour with their education department and learned loads of stories about the sculptures. Thank you Emma!

Laura Ford's bronzes have a misterious unsettling quality, The mixture of hyperrealism (finely textured bronze looking like plastic or fabric) and incongruence (friendly animals with children legs), makes a big impact.

 

 One of my favourites was also the carved stone plaque by the House of an Artist, sketched below

 

More sketches here and here

Visit to the Ashmolean

Ten of us wen to the Ashmolean on the 8th December and had a great time sketching in the different rooms, from the typical object to the current exhibition (Bacon Moore).
For me one of the highlights was also sharing lunch with everybody and having a look at what others had done. Below you can also see some of my sketches of the day.

Second Cover to Cover sketching day

8th December 2013 - 10am to 2pm

Meet for a day sketching at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Meet at reception area at around 10am and at the café (if you are running a bit late) at around 10:30am
Sketch in the Museum during the morning, wherever you wish, till around 1pm when whoever is left can regroup at reception, have a group photo by the entrance and then we can go for a spot of lunch if you fancy it.

Please note there are a few restrictions on materials - see link:  http://www.ashmolean.org/documents/education/ArtMaterialsInTheGalleries.pdf

 

Remember to bring:

• your Cover to Cover sketchbook or collect it on the day (by arrangement with Isabel Carmona)
• your own materials (but see list above for restrictions)
• any food or money for refreshment

You are welcome to bring friends and family along but each person is responsible for themselves.

Let me know: if you are willing to drive and give others a lift so that we can minimise the numbers of cars going.

First Sketching day - 3rd November

Cover to Cover got to a good start on the first Sunday of November - the sun came out, the location was beautiful and full of people - Newbury's Farmer's market.
There were nine of us to start with, which helps with "security in numbers" and gives more authority to our enterprise.
Initially some were a bit more intimidated by the stoppers by, but we had a great reception from the market people and also from the coffee shop where we descended on mass to have our first coffee of the day.

As usual a few stories came out - I learnt that the people running the vegetable stall were not brothers but "mates". 

I drew the bicycle stall run by Spokes and the lady who runs it kept glancing over at me while I sketched; she was very pleased when she came over to check what I was doing, she commented "people don't sketch very often these days, it is nice seeing you here".

Later on we started to feel the cold and we took refuge back in the café.

At the end there were only  three of us - Pam and Kate in the photo bravely showing their sketches....

First Cover to Cover sketching day

3rd November 2013 - 10am to 2pm

Meet for a day sketching in the centre of Newbury.

Meet at the Corn Exchange for coffee and quick chat.

Sketch around Market Square (it is Farmer's market day) and Newbury centre.

Meet up at Victoria Park - by the bandstand at 2pm if you are still around for a group photo.

Remember to bring:

• your Cover to Cover sketchbook or collect it on the day (by arrangement with Isabel Carmona),
• your own materials, chair etc for comfortable sketching,
• any food or refreshments you may want (or there are plenty of cafes around to buy some).

You are welcome to bring friends and family along but each person is responsible for themselves.

Open Studios Facebook page - Event 3rd November

Cover to Cover launch

Open Studios West Berkshire and North Hampshire artists needed to take part in this project that will explore our creativity and inspiration.

 

whether you are a painter, jeweller, textile artist, potter, sculptor, video, silhouette, cake artist or calligrapher,

we want you to help us communicate how we develop our ideas from sketch, doodle or maquette to fully fledged pieces of Art.

 

Open to all Open Studios (West Berkshire and North Hampshire) artists (you do not need to take part in Open Studios 2014 scheme)

 

Entry costs £10 for which participant artists will:

• Receive an A5 landscape sketchbook to personalise, fill in and exhibit at Arlington Arts Centre in May-June 2014,
• Have the opportunity to exhibit as well one other sketchbook of their choice and artwork of any medium resulting from sketchbook studies,
• Enter into a prize scheme judged by a well known artist (the results will be announced a the exhibition private view)
• Receive information about sketching events that will be organised from November 2013 to March 2014 - if you can volunteer to organise a sketching day let us know,
• Share your activities and sketchbook progress on this Cover to Cover blog

To register and collect your sketchbook get in touch with the Arlington Arts Centre box office